Oof, sorry for the title.

I've been at a bit of a standstill lately, mostly because both school and work have been busy lately. But also in part because I was just spinning my wheels with KiCad. I am only trying to make a relatively simple board for the power distribution "box" (3 connectors, 1 barrel jack, and 3 switches), but I've never attempted a PCB before. I was considering just wiring it all up with a bunch of shrink wrap to try to keep things neat.

The cons to using a PCB for this project:

1. Monetary cost.
2. Personal time / effort.
3. Wait time for printing / shipping.
4. I don't know KiCad and it's a pain to learn and I'm lazy.

The pros:

1. Wait, the whole idea of this project is for me to learn new skills, including some basic PCB layout and design!

So after some waffling, I decided to suck it up and try KiCad again. I've started the basic schematic, and I anticipate a lot of issues when it comes to sizing components correctly. I also had to download a library from http://www.kicadlib.org/ to get a DPDT switch component (previously a quiting point for me, but adding libraries is actually easy).

I also figured out the cables I would need, and hand crimped some connectors. This was an exercise in frustration... does anyone know of a cheap family of connectors, pins, and crimps that would work for hobby projects? I've made a few cables at work, and using the correct tools makes it a zen-like experience. But I can't drop $1k on a specialized crimp tool. And using a set of needle nose pliers just doesn't cut it.

Anyways, expect slightly more regular updates and some schematics soon.